George e



Patented Apr. 2.3, 1895.

mi mams PETERS co, PnoTaurHn, WASHINGTON, D. c.

' UNTTED STATES PATENT QEETEE.

GEORGE E. ADAMS, OF NEIV BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE TRAUT drIIINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,955, dated April23, 1895.

Application tiled November 2, 1893. Serial No. 489,834.. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. ADAMS, of New Britain, in the county ofHartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Clasps; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exactdescription of the same, refererence being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and tothe letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in metallic clasps, such as areparticularly but not exclusively designed for use upon garmentsupporters for ladies and childrens wear, and it has for its object toprovide a device which shall be cheap and simple to manufacture, and onewhich will grasp the garment with a secure hold and at the same time, beextremely easy to fasten or release from the garment, thus overcoming ina great measure the objection to clasps of this character now in commonuse.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: Figure lis a front, Fig. 2 aside elevation, and Fig. 3 a rear View, of the preferred form of clasp.Fig. 4. is a vertical section through the same. Figs. 5, 6, and '7 arerear views in perspective, illustrating different forms of gripping jawsfor the clasp. Fig. 8 is a view of the device gripping a garment.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the sameparts.

In carrying this invention into practice, I preferably stamp the partsup from sheet metal,as is usual in this class of devices, and one of theparts, which I shall for convenience, term the body porti-on, lettered Ain the drawings, is formed with laterally extending ears a., which areadapted to be bent around the end of the web constituting the supporterproper in order to attach the device thereto, and it is obvious that anyof the ordinary well known means for securing a strong union may beemployed if desired. The body portion is formed with a downwardlyextending tongue B, preferably curved toward the rear somewhat, as shownbest in Figs. 2 and 4t and provided at its lower end with a forwardlycurved hook b, having its end b turned Well up toward the body A. In thepreferred construction, the end of the hook is smooth, but I may find itadvantageous for some purposes as will hereinafter appear, to serrate ortooth this end, as shown for instance at b', in Figs. 6 and 7.

To the front of the body portion and preferably at the base of thetongue is hinged a cooperating member consisting of a shank por-1 tion Cterminating at the lower end in an inclosing ring for the end of thehook, such inclosing ring being preferably in the form of aconcavo-convex cap D. At the lower end, this inclosing ring or cap isprovided with a lip d preferably projecting upward, and in any instance,with its edge lying in position to cooperate with the extreme lowerportion of the hook so as to hold said hook within the cap asillustrated in Figs. 3 to '7 or allow the same to be snapped outA as inFig. 2.

It will be observed that the front of the cap portion serves as alimiting stop for the end of the hook. The hook tongue B and portions Cof the co-operating member are sufiiciently elastic to allow the end ofthe hook to spring past the lip on the cap portion, which will thusserve as an efficient means for holding the hook in closed position whenengaged with the fabric as illustrated in Fig. 8.

In engaging the device, the body portion is grasped, the hook passedbeneath the fabric of the garment to be supported and the cap presseddown until the hook carrying the fabric with it, snaps past the lip onthe cap, when any direct pull on the fabric will be taken up by the lipDand end of the hook b, there being so little tendency to cause the hookto move outward so that with a direct pull on the webbing of thesupporter it is almost impossible to release the device. 'Io insure abetter grip, the edge of the lip D may, if desired, be toothed andserrated, as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, and in every instance, it ispreferably made with recesses e at each side into which the fabric maypull when drawn down.

y Obviously, the hinging of the two members together may be accomplishedin any well known manner, but I preferably strike up a small earffromthe base of the hooked tongue B and curve this ear forward around apivoted bar g formed on the upper end of the cooperating member C,usually by simply slitting the end of this member'.

The device it Will be observed is extremely simple,easilyand cheaplymanufactured and what is of greater importance, may be engaged with andreleased from the fabric of the garment with the greatest facility, andat the same time, when in engagement, will hold with a secure gripagainst any strains upon the garment or supporter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- As animproved article of manufacture, thel clasp for garment supportersherein described, consisting of the body portion formed at the top forthe attachment of the webbing and at the bottom into the spring tongueterminating in an upwardly turned hook and the overlying member hingedat the upper end tothe body at a point intermediate the ends of thevbody said overlying member being formed at the bottom with a circularorifice adapted to surround the hook on the body, and itself having atthe bottom an upwardly projecting lip co-operatng with the hook to forma snap catchl for grasping the fabric of the garment to be supportedwhen caught over the same; substantially as described.

GEORGE E. ADAMS,

Witnesses:

R. A. MOORE, Jr., G. W. TRAUT.

